📰 Gov’t urged to consider US escort for PH resupply missions

MANILA, Philippines — Allowing a foreign force to escort Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) or Navy resupply missions in the West Philippine Sea is an option gaining favor from geopolitical and legal experts.

Retired Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio and Stratbase ADR Institute president Dindo Manhit urged the Marcos administration to start considering this arrangement between the Philippines and its allies, amid the continuing harassment of PCG and other civilian Filipino vessels by the Chinese.

Manhit on Tuesday recommended that Manila “explore escorts to resupply missions” following the series of incidents that saw the China Coast Guard (CCG) ramming PCG vessels without provocation. The latest to be hit by the Chinese was the largest PCG asset, the BRP Teresa Magbanua, in an encounter at Escoda (Sabina) Shoal on Aug. 31.

Asked if such escorting arrangements would further enrage China, Carpio noted that the United States and its other allies in the region had already done similar undertakings. That’s not what happened (Beijing acting with hostility) when US and Australian warships conducted naval drills in the same area at the same time where Malaysia surveyed and drilled for gas in its EEZ (exclusive economic zone). Same with Indonesia. A bully respects someone more powerful than him,” Carpio said.